[Cassy]

I've always been the shy, timid girl who hid while life whizzed by. But after getting my PhD, I resolved to go off-world and become more adventurous. Let's see — how has that gone thus far? Blackballed from my first job, disarmed a ticking nuclear bomb, and now stuck in an armed incursion. Isn't there a medium setting on adventure? There's one good thing, though — Eric. We only recently met, but I'm already falling for him. Hope I don't add heartbreak to the list.

By the time Val, Kate, and Harley returned to the quilting room, we were already poring over the security feeds on our com-viewers. Val really came through.

"Ma, where is your husband?" Mona asked. "Is he okay?"

Phfft!" Mavis spat. "He went down to Mars for a booze run, leaving me with the headaches. Like usual."

The barmaid, Lilli, entered the room and said, "Ma, some of the bad people are here, and they want drinks."

"Okay," Mavis replied. "Maybe if we booze 'em up a bit, they might give us some info. And you know they ain't gonna pay."

Mona shrugged. "Spoils of war, I guess."

"I just hope some drunk thug doesn't think I am, too." Lilli huffed as she and Mavis exited, closing the door behind them.

Greta's eyes widened as she stared at her com-viewer. "There's still some children at the child center. Val, can you take me there through your secret passage?"

"I can get you most of the way," Val replied, "but then you will be exposed. You might get caught."

Standing resolute with arms crossed, Greta narrowed her eyes. "I'm in charge of the Child Center, and nobody threatens my kids!"

I took a measure of courage from Greta's dedication as she and Val disappeared down the floor hatch.

"They're spread thin," Kate remarked while scrolling through her viewer. "They don't have enough soldiers to occupy the station for very long. That means more are coming, or they're planning to do something bad and leave soon. Not sure which is worse."

That got me thinking — how had those commando's, or whoever they are, gotten here? So I accessed the station's external monitors, starting with the inner ports that the mining ships usually used. What I found made my blood boil. "That witch!" I yelled.

The room went quiet. "What?" Kate asked.

I pointed at my viewer, showing a boxy mining vessel docked at gamma port. "That's Khlo's ship, the Erobus. The commandos came in on her ship."

Switching to an internal video feed confirmed my accusation. There she stood on the dock, talking with two black-uniformed commandos and a suited man with his back to the camera.

"Aargh!" I fumed, gritting my teeth. Eric's eyes widened. He had not yet seen the angry side of me.

"There's a special place in Hell for that shrew," Kate grumbled. "And I'm willing to make the delivery."

"Kate, I found your captain and crew," Shera exclaimed. "They are in the station brig."

Looking over Shera's shoulder, Kate asked, "Are they all there? Should be forty, not counting Eric and me."

"Twenty? Thirty, maybe? It's hard to tell."

"Some took shore leave down on Mars," Eric speculated. "That might be all of them."

Kate pointed, "And there's your friend, Cory."

Shera blew out a breath. "At least he's still alive."

Standing next to me, Eric shook his head. "I'm worried about the Ark Hope. They tried to destroy it once, and might try again."

"What can we do?" I asked.

"The thrusters and one fusion reactor are still online. If I can get aboard, I can move it away from the station." He put a gentle hand on my shoulder. "I have to try."

I gazed into his eyes — oh God, they were beautiful, with flecks of green floating in a deep hazel sea. I almost forgot what I wanted to say. "Then I'm going with you."

"No, Cassy. I don't want to put you in danger."

Folding my arms and putting on my best determined expression, I issued an ultimatum. "I'm going!" I finally met a man I liked, and I wasn't going to let him get away.

Eric's jaw dropped, no doubt surprised by that reaction from a meek girl like me. Then his mouth morphed into a half-grin. "Far be it from me to argue with a woman who disarms nuclear bombs."

Kate interjected. "Hold your horses, cowboy and cowgirl. We can't see inside the Ark. No telling how many of them are onboard."

"But I know the Ark like Val knows the space station. And I can hook into the internal systems once aboard. You said yourself they are spread thin. This could work."

Gazing at her viewer, Shera said, "There are two guards on the dock. How will you get past them?"

Harley put on a grin. "I can help you with that. Just need a bottle from Ma, then we can go."

I froze and my stomach went queasy. This was really happening?

Eric moved the fabric shelf aside to reveal the hatch to the underworld. Then he turned to me, saying, "Cassy, you coming?"

*****

"This way," Harley said, shining her light forward.

Navigating between the station hulls wasn't so bad, not unlike cave spelunking, which I've done before while searching for exotic microbial life. But it didn't take us all the way. We re-emerged within a maintenance closet. Fortunately, the station security feeds showed us routes that avoided unwanted interactions.

To get to the Ark Hope, we had to go up relative to the station's artificial gravity. Taking a lift was too risky, so we climbed the enclosed emergency ladders through twelve levels of the habitat ring. But that only took us to the wide spoke connecting the ring to the station inner core. My muscles were already protesting.

When we reached the access hatch, Harley abruptly stopped and held up a hand. As I held my breath and squeezed Eric's hand, we waited for the muffled footsteps to pass by. She gazed at the video feed on her viewer. "Okay, it's clear."

We ran to the spoke lifts, but again we did not take one, rather found the emergency ladders behind them. I did not look forward to another long climb, but at least the artificial gravity dwindled the closer we went to the center of rotation.

As we climbed, Eric caught my eye and a big grin grew on his face, to which I inquired, "What?"

"It's just... Well, it's been non-stop chaos since I met you."

"I could say the same about you."

"Point taken." He thought for a moment. "When this is all done, how about we do something boring?"

I sighed. "That would be a nice change."

By the time we reached the dock level, it felt like I had climbed a mountain. Peeking out the small round window of the hatch only revealed a forest of stacked crates.

"Let me check the monitors," Harley said, pulling a finger across her com-viewer screen.

"Before we go out there," Eric said, pulling me aside and putting on an impish grin. When he drew me closer with hands on my shoulders, I did not resist in the slightest. "There's something I want to do. Cassy, may I kiss you?"

I pushed in, wrapping his neck and pulling his lips down to mine. Eric's hands drifted down to my waist, securing our closeness as I molded myself against him. A tingling euphoria enveloped my whole being as the kiss lingered, and for a moment, everything else in the universe faded away.

I could get used to this.

But eventually, reality always returned. With a deep breath, I pressed my forehead into the crook of his neck, basking in his warmth.

"Mmm," Eric whispered. "I'll take that for a yes."

Harley rolled her eyes. "If you two are done sucking face, we need to get moving."

I held my breath as Harley slowly opened the hatch, grimacing as the hinges groaned, but fortunately, the drone of the dock ventilation fans drowned it out. We crept through the crate jungle, stopping behind a squarish loader-bot close to the docking tunnel that connected the Ark Hope.

Harley displayed her com-viewer, the screen showing two black-clad commandos, one man and one woman, holding rifles and leaning against the curved port wall on either side of the open tunnel entrance. Their helmets laid beside them on the floor.

"They look bored," Harley said with a grin. "Wait here until I distract them."

"What are you going to do?" Eric asked.

"Become drunk and disorderly."

Harley extracted a bottle of Martian vodka from her pants' leg pocket and removed the cap. Swirling a swig in her mouth produced a grimace, but then she spit it out. Next, she dribbled some down her tank top. "That should do it."

"Be careful, okay?" I told her.

"Eh, should be fun," she answered with a shrug, then disappeared between the crates.

I stood beside Eric, clutching his hand while saying a silent prayer for Harley's safety. Within a few moments, an a-cappella drinking song drifted through the crates, but horribly slurred and completely out of tune. I peeked around the loader-bot.

"What the hell?" the male commando said, standing upright.

The female commando snapped her rifle up. "You there! Stop or we'll fire!"

"Don't thoot, offither," slurred Harley, wavering on her feet while raising her arms, one hand clasping the bottle.

The man laughed. "The skank is stinkin' drunk."

"Go away!" the woman yelled, lowering her rifle to my relief.

"Doth you wanna par-party?" Harley said, wobbling closer. She held out the bottle. "Thith ist good stufff."

"What do we do?" the woman asked, wrinkling her forehead.

"Throw her out, but keep the bottle," the man replied with a grin. "Don't you want a drink?"

The commandos shouldered their rifles and approached Harley, backs to us.

"Get ready," Eric whispered, crouching beside me.

Upon reaching Harley, the man snatched away the bottle, then together they hooked hands under Harley's arms and dragged her toward the lifts.

"Now," Eric said, and we took off toward the dock tunnel, hand-in-hand.

The female commando faltered, but to prevent her from turning to spot us, Harley looped her arms around both commando's necks, swaying as she leaned in. "Thay, you'th kinda cute, wanna theesum?"

"Hell no, slut," the woman snarled as they dragged Harley on.

Harley winked at us as we disappeared into the Ark Hope.

Not far inside, Eric placed an open hand against a wall panel. With a beep, it swung open, revealing two handguns inside. He handed one to me. "Just in case."

I gulped, turning the gray plas-steel weapon, that looked more like a hand-stapler. "I don't know if I could kill anyone."

"It only fires stunner bolts," Eric clarified. "Just six shots, though. To fire, flip on the handle switch, then pull the trigger."

"Okay," I replied meekly.

Next, we ducked through an open door to a cargo bay, the biggest I have ever seen on a spaceship. More like an empty auditorium, save one empty crate by the door. White lines on an acute angled wall and adjacent floor drew my eye.

"That's my space pong court," Eric said, tilting his head back with a small grin. "I'd love to teach you how to play sometime."

I smiled in return. "Yeah, I'd like that." Anything but this cloak and dagger stuff.

Eric activated a data panel with a finger touch. "Command override. Eric Grange, code sigma-delta-two."

"Command override achieved," an electronic voice responded.

"Locate all ship crew." Only one green dot appeared on the 3D ship wireframe rendering. "Good, just me."

"Locate all other personnel," he said. Red dots appeared, one-by-one. "Not many. They are spread thin." His eyes widened. "Cassy, hide now!"

The moment I ducked behind the crate, a gravelly voice shouted from the doorway. "Hands up! Don't move!" In walked a commando with rifle shouldered, his face obscured by a black helmet and dark visor. Eric froze and put his hands up. "What are you doing here?" the man demanded.

"Just came in for a game of space pong." Eric tilted his head toward the court. "You up for a match?"

"What?"

I peeked over the crate top and pointed the gun. Closing my eyes, I pulled the trigger, and the sharp pop made me jerk. When I finally opened my eyes, I noticed the commando crumpled on the floor like a laundry pile. My heart pattered like a snare drum in my ears.

Eric removed the gun from my hand and switched it off, then grinned. "I'm so glad I insisted you come along, Cassy." With a hand, he bid me to stand. "We need to move. Most of the bad guys are on the bridge, so we need to go to the auxiliary bridge down by engineering." He snatched up the commando's weapon as he passed, slinging the rifle over his shoulder.

Jogging through the passageways did little to calm my heart, but holding Eric's hand relieved my tingling nerves. Down three levels, thankfully without interference, we came to the backup bridge, a small room in the ship's gut lined with transparent control panels and view-screens. Eric manually locked the hatch, sliding a bolt with a clunk.

"Activate," Eric ordered, and the screens came to life, flashing colored symbols. "Transfer all ship command functions here. Authorization code sigma-delta-two."

"Complied," a voice responded.

On a control panel, he traced his finger across the surface, pulling a green bar with it. "It will take a few minutes for the fusion reactor to ramp up." A deep hum began a slow crescendo.

"What about the commandos on the ship?"

A sly grin rose on Eric's face. "I think I can get them to leave." He spoke to the ship AI, "Override depressurization safety protocols. Lock open all isolation doors and open purge vent twelve. Sound all depressurization alarms. Authorization code sigma-delta-two."

"Warning. Action will result in unsafe loss of pressure. Confirmation required."

"Order confirmed."

"Complying."

Within a moment, a klaxon horn blared and red lights flashed, followed by a verbal warning. "Depressurization emergency!" With a touch of a button, Eric silenced the local alarm.

"That should do it," Eric said. "No motivation like lack of air." He held up a hand in response to my open-mouthed shocked expression, anticipating my question. "Don't worry. They'll have time to get out."

True to his word, the red dots representing people on the ship 3D-rendering scurried toward the docking tunnel. Once the dots passed out of the ship, Eric ordered, "Close and lock docking port isolation doors. Close purge vent twelve. Reinstate depressurization safety protocols."

"Complied."

Eric turned to me. "There. We are alone now. Well, except for that guy you shot, but he'll be out for a while." He sat in a chair before the control panel, and scrolled through various screens with hand swipes. "Now, to get us out of here."

"But aren't we still attached to the docking tunnel?" I asked.

"It's designed to breakaway in case some fool like me tries to fire the thrusters while still docked. Engaging lateral thrusters. Better hold on to something."

As Eric slid a finger across the control panel, a rumbling sound rose, and the deck shook. The rumble intensity increased as he ramped up the thrusters. We both gazed at a wall-mounted screen that showed an external docking tunnel view. Within a few moments, the tunnel ruptured, tearing apart like a pulled paper tube. The lateral acceleration forces jerked me to the side. Then my feet drifted off the deck as gravity faded. Fortunately, I held onto a bar above the control panels, presumably placed there for just such an event. Eric's bushy hair stood out and my shoulder length hyper-curls even more so, probably making my head look like a fuzzball.

Eric's huge smile warmed me. "We did it, Cassy."

Floating up, I returned the smile. "Yeah. So what happens now?"

"Well, we need to move further away to a safe parking orbit. Then, I'm going to contact Space Command." Eric's eyes sparkled, and a sly, particularly mischievous grin crossed his face. "Have you ever been kissed in zero-g?"